Hey everyone! I wanted to post just to chat about where I am, and what I’m doing here. I’m here in the south of France attending, for the third time now, the annual MIPIM real estate event. With over thirty thousand real estate executives, decision makers, entrepreneurs, fun managers, investors, developers, municipalities, countries here that get together in this beautiful setting behind me, its a great opportunity for meeting new people who play a major part in the industry. Because of how many prominent experts gather together for this event, its a really beautiful occasion to talk about what’s going on in the industry such as new trends, emerging trends, and really engaging the future.
Creating a dialogue on what’s happening is really going to affect the international real estate community and industry. And that’s all different capacities and facets of the market. Right?
So, it’s a three day event. Again, this is just echoing the theme that I’ve been sharing lately, which is make sure you spend time to get out of your market. Get out of your area and learn by being around other people that are more successful, that are doing things that are really on the path, and keeping your finger on the pulse of the market of your industry. Do this by investing the time, energy, and capital into actually being around that; put yourself in positions where you can learn. I’ve had some amazing break throughs here on ideas that can directly impact how we run our businesses at home in hospitality development, as well as keeping up with technology changes, and how we’re really going to appeal to this upcoming demographic with millennials: how they really like to travel, stay and book.
Just met with our International counter part today, which was awesome! I chatted with them a little bit about the South of France market and the new normal here, which is completely different from the recession. The global recession, ten years ago now, has really made a dent and the market still hasn’t fully recovered in the high end here. We were also talking a little bit about some of the dynamics going on in the middle market, which is anywhere from one to three million dollars here for villas and flats. This information was really enlightening to me.
I have also had the opportunity to meet so many great new people here; potential partners and investors and potential collaborators in the states. While it is true that we have a little bit of a limited representation here, at least we’re getting more and more people every year to attend and really see the value in being here at the MIPIM Real Estate Event at Côte d’Azur in Cannes, France.
So this is our last day; closing ceremonies are tomorrow morning. It’s crazy that it’s already Thursday and I’m kinda not ready to leave. Tomorrow we are saying goodbye to Cannes and headed to Monaco and Monte Carlo with our friends, our NYU group here at company group as part of our tradition.
We are planning on going out to the casino and having a great meal, and then heading up north to do some skiing in the beautiful French Alps and then to Geneva, Switzerland. And with that, it’s time for cocktail hour!
So anyway, hope you’re having a great week guys. Remember the value of putting yourself in positions to grow, learn, and connect with people in your business.